Girls and Boys and Television A few reminders for more gender sensitivity in chi ldren’s TV

Girls and Boys and Television A few reminders for more gender sensitivity in children’s TV Why do we need gender sensitivity? Television is highly appealing to children all over the world. It offers them exciting stories, material for their imagination, access to other worlds they would not come across in daily life – and visions of what it means to be a girl or a boy – a woman or a man. The goal of any quality children’s television is to support both boys and girls in becoming active members of the society they inhabit. But what kinds of world views is children’s television offering? What roles is it presenting to girls and boys? A simple count of the main characters in children’s television in 4 countries reveals that in only 3% of cases girls or women are the main characters, while boys and men do so in 68%. In some series women or girls are almost entirely absent. A brief look at the ratio of male to female in The Smurfs or among the fish in the ocean in Finding Nemo raises the question: Who can really imagine a world in which only one woman features among hundreds of men? This fairly straightforward comparison of numbers already illustrates that television portrays a biased representation of the social world. Some may argue that questions of gender equality are passé and belong to a previous century. Yet the reality of children’s television proves to us that today gender equality is still a long way off. Not only are girls shown in restricted roles, but little attention is given to issues of boys and the crises they confront. What is called for here is gender sensitivity which offers quality for girls and boys, which draws attention to critical stereotypes and clichés, and points out alternatives, which are beneficial and appealing to girls and boys. The purpose of this reminder is to provide some explanatory notes with regard to these issues. Dr. Maya Götz International Central Institute for Youth and Educational Television (IZI), Germany In co-operation with Dr. Reinhard Winter (Germany), Gunter Neubauer M.A. (Germany), Prof. Dr. Dafna Lemish (Israel), Prof. Dr. Jeanne Prinsloo (South Africa), Prof. Dr. Divya McMillin (USA), Prof. Dr. Norma Pecora (USA), Margit Herche (Hungary), Elke Schlote (Germany), Dr. Sofie Van Bauwel (Belgium), Firdoze Bulbulia (South Africa), Beth Carmona (Brazil), Prof. Dr. Cindy Carter (UK), Prof. Dr. JoEllen Fisherkeller (USA), Prof. Dr. Micheline Frenette (Canada), Prof. Dr. Rebecca Hains (USA), Prof. Dr. Hongxia Zhang (China), Ammu Joseph (India), Prof. Dr. Ka Wah (Kara) Chan (China/Hong Kong),MaHua(China),JudithMtsewu(SouthAfrica),MariekeRodenburg(Belgium), Seham Nasser (Egypt), María Dolores Souza (Chile), Damien Spry M.A. (Australia), Prof. Dr. Stacy Smith (USA), Dr. Charu Uppal (Fiji), Prof. Dr. Angharad N. Valdivia (USA), The Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media (USA). © 008 Internationales Zentralinstitut für das Jugend- und Bildungsfernsehen (IZI), Germany www.izi.de izi@brnet.de The main characters in children’s television In the largest study ever conducted about children’s television, we tracked gender representations in 19,664 programmes from 4 countries. We found: Only 32% of all main characters in children’s television are female. The ratio of male to female characters in animation pro-grammes, especially if the main character is an animal, monster, etc., is as disparate as 87% male to 13% female. Public broadcasters are even slightly more unbalanced than private channels! IZI – Children’s television worldwide 007; basis: 5,932 fict. shows, n=25,439 characters Action is called for to change this situation! Unlike society generally with 51% females to 49% males, children’stelevisionpresentsaverymaleworld!Suchdiscrepancy continues where race and ethnicity are concerned: 7% of all main characters in children’s television are Caucasian. Some of the “whitest children’s television” can be found in South Africa, where 81% of all significant characters are white – while in reality only 9% of the population are white. Curiously, on Kenyan children’s television there are more Asian girls (16%) than black girls (11%). The greater the degree of creative freedom, the more the gender ratio is biased towards male characters. Surely, the idea of quality in children’s television implies that children could reasonably expect to identify sometimes with characters along the lines of their gender and ethnicity. Children’s television needs a more balanced and more colourful ethnic blending of both main and supporting characters. 3 Common stereotypes in children’s television Girls and women in children’s television are often: Boys and men in children’s television are often: conventionally beautiful, underweight, and sexualised loners or leaders more frequently antagonists rarely elderly or even adult motivated frequently by a romantic interest shown as dependent upon boys often stereotyped in ways: as blonde – both the nice girl or the “blonde bitch”; or as red- haired – the headstrong and cheeky tomboy more frequently overweight even more frequently Caucasian often stereotyped in 4 ways: the lonesome cowboy, the emotional soft-boy, the clever small guy, the dumb blockhead Women/girls are more often depicted as being Men/boys are automatically heterosexual, interested in, modest, tidy, and conventionally moral. Beauty is their main attribute and source of power. Women are there to complement men, to encourage and support them, and as incentives for their endeavours in life. They are primarily characterised by “non-masculine” features whether as caring and sensitive, or silly, capricious and fearful or they are cheeky, self-opinionated, and nasty. but simultaneously looking down on, women. They have tobetough,thebodybeingamachinethathastofunction by way of disciplinary action. They tend to assume power and authority and this superior status often has to be defended. Alongside these more traditional forms of “male hegemony” there is also a variety of cheeky little boys who continuously violate the rules and norms of society and who assert themselves with their wit. A (stereo-)typical girl character Girl, 11, Ukraine However, there are programmes which place the focus on girls and their perspective. Examples such as Lizzy McGuire, iCarly, Suddenly Mermaids, Mortified, or Kim Possible point out that girls on television can be multifaceted and interesting. Overall, however, as these make up 10% of all fictional programmes, such girls as protagonists remain exceptions. A (stereo-)typical boy character Boy, 11, Germany Gender equality means to overcome one-dimensional, traditional constructs of masculinity and femininity, which over-simplify and fall short of reality and in contemporary society are neither beneficial to girls nor boys. 4 Why is there so little change? Blindspotsandself-fulfillingprophecies While producers’ understanding and knowledge of the gender category is quite diverse, somesimilaritiesareevident:malecharactersfaroutnumberfemalecharactersinchildren’s television globally, in both domestic and imported productions, on public and commercial television. This is astonishing in a modern world in which 196 nations have declared the equality of men and women. This equality does not apply to children’s television! Blind spot: To be male is the norm, to be female stereotypically different In many classic examples of children’s fiction such as Bugs Bunny, The Smurfs or Winnie the Pooh little heroes are automatically male. Sometimes one or two girls exist alongside hundreds of male characters – like Smurfette, the sexy, beautiful, blonde girl-smurf. Even so, while every male smurf is named by his special feature – for example Clumsy Smurf, Brainy Smurf, and so forth, Smurfette’s distinguishing feature is merely being female, the deviation from the male norm. This female status is limited to a few stereotypes. As noted by Simone de Beauvoir in the middle of the 0th century, to assume that women are the “the other sex” indicates a blind spot. Those in power, those who fit this male norm, create new stories and characters starting from their own experience. Because a lot of the creators of children’s television are white men, they tend to present their fictional characters as ’pale males’. Yet if this blind spot – this assumption that females are merely the other sex – is recognised it can be modified and open up and renew creativity. © SUPER RTL If there are a lot of boys and a single girl, the girl has to stand in for all girls. Increase the number of girls and the possibility of several personalities is opened up! Self-fulfilling prophecy: Boys identify only with boys while girls identify with both sexes One of the arguments producers commonly cite to justify current practice is that girls can identify with boy characters, while boys cannot identify with girl characters. This is a fallacy, since attractive girl characters such as Kim Possible, Dora the Explorer or Bibi Blocksberg also appeal to boys who identify with them as well. However, without a doubt girls name male characters as their favourite characters more frequently thanboysmentionfemalecharacters.Butthispreference must be seen for what it is – it corresponds precisely to the gender ratio found on television. The fact that male characters seem more popular is primarily a question of what is available and, hence, a self-fulfilling prophecy. © SUPER RTL Gender sensitivity means to reflect and be aware of one’s own prejudices and question assumptions about gender that have become normalised through repetition. 5 ... - tailieumienphi.vn